Walgreens pharmacy in Baltimore, MD. August 11, 2020.
Walgreens this week announced a partnership with Pearl Health that will increase the pharmacy giant's footprint in primary care. The partnership will allow Walgreens to reach more regions and patients, and offer a broader set of solutions to providers and health systems. The partnership will help doctors manage value-based care, while Walgreens expands its reach with community-based providers.
Pearl Health, which operates in 29 states, will provide technological insights into personalized treatment. Pearl's proprietary Urgency Score algorithm uses a variety of health and demographic data sources to identify patients who could benefit from their programs. Walgreens will provide health-care services such as prescription fulfillment, medication adherence, immunizations, care gap closure and diagnostic testing. It also will work with providers to help patients discharged from the hospital transition to return home.
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"Walgreens is committed to being the partner of choice for providers and health systems looking to transition quickly and effectively to value-based care and improve outcomes in the communities they serve," said John Driscoll, executive vice president and president, U.S. Healthcare, of parent company Walgreens Boots Alliance. "Our partnership with Pearl Health allows us to reach more communities faster and enable comprehensive, affordable care that improves long-term health outcomes and fosters healthier communities."
Hospitals and physician practices are seeing direct competition from Walgreens, CVS, Amazon, Walmart and others that are investing in traditional primary care and other health services. Walgreens' moves into health care include a majority investment in VillageMD, a primary, multispecialty and urgent care provider; a majority acquisition of CareCentrix, a company that offers a platform for home-based care; and full ownership of Shields Health Solutions for pharmacy integration.
The partnership announcement comes after CEO Rosalind Brewer stepped down at the end of August and the company said her replacement will have "deep health-care experience." Under her leadership, Walgreens added primary care centers to hundreds of U.S. stores and acquired urgent care provider Summit Health-CityMD in a $8.9 billion deal; partnered with health insurers; and bought out its remaining stakes in CareCentrix and Shields Health Solutions.
Pearl said it supports primary care organizations and providers in their transition to value-based care through data and insights for more proactive care that decreases total cost of care and optimizes performance in risk-bearing models such as Medicare's ACO REACH. Since its founding in 2020, Pearl has raised approximately $100M in funding from investors such as Andreessen Horowitz, Viking Global Investors, AlleyCorp and SV Angel. The deal with Walgreens will provide software and services to help primary care doctors switch from fee-for-service to value-based care, which aims to improve overall patient health while controlling costs.
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"At Pearl Health, we believe that local primary care providers are key to improving America's overall health," said Michael Kopko, CEO of Pearl Health. "Our technology-powered, value-based care model aligns seamlessly with the health-care services Walgreens offers, particularly in the most vulnerable communities. With a focus on proactive, coordinated care, we'll collaborate to deliver a better solution to providers and ultimately deliver high-quality services to patients, while managing their care efficiently. We're very excited about the implications of this partnership for patients in Medicare and beyond."
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Alan Goforth
Alan Goforth is a freelance writer in suburban Kansas City. In addition to freelancing for several publications, he has written a dozen books about sports and other topics.
